In the News

Marathon Drugs Increases Price 70-Fold – 2/10/17 More predation by pharma. Marathon has gotten a decades old muscular dystrophy drug, deflazacort, approved and is charging $89,000 a year for it. It’s price in Europe is under $1500/year. Where are the free market forces? Why aren’t our elected officials protecting us from this egregious practice?

Promising New Prostate Cancer Treatment – 2/2/17 A new and very effective prostate cancer treatment, reported here, has a two-year relapse rate of around 25%. Though clearly not a cure, it has a major benefit in that, unlike all other treatments, it has no. Light fibres are inserted in the prostate, rather like a biopsy, and a light-sensitive drug is administered. The cancerous tissue is killed, and all else left alone. Would certainly be worth a try.

Hypertension Developing Late in Life Halves Onset of Dementia – 1/21/17 Research here indicate that people who develop hypertension in late in life has almost half the reate of dementia. Yet more proof that hypertension has a purpose and unless it is off the charts, is best left alone.

Lowest Stroke Rates in Older Baby Boomers; Younger People Rising– 9/12/16 reports the American Heart Association, here. There could be numerous factors at work. Less smoking among the baby boomers and less healthy diet among the young would be our guess.

Sugar Lobby Promotes Sugar– 11/13/16 Surreal. JAMA reports here that the sugar lobby has been systematically attempting to put the blame for heart diseases on something other than sugar. What were they supposed to do? They’re the sugar lobby. The real question is, “Why did Standard Medicine buy it?”

Zika Breakthrough– 8/30/16 Reported here and elsewhere, two existing (already approved) drugs appear to be effective against Zika. If this pans out, it will speed things up immeasurably.

AHA Limits Added Sugar– 8/17/16 A sensible recommendation from the American Heart Association limits sugar for children aged 2-18 to fewer than 6 teaspoons a day. Paper here. A better recommendation: Fewer than 0 teaspoons added sugar per day for all children aged 0-110.

Calcium Supplements Linked to Dementia– 8/17/16 A report in the journal Neurology, here, links calcium supplements to dementia in some groups of women. The risk, alarmingly, is double for this group.

Suppression of Antioxidants Kills Pancreatic Cancer cells– 7/28/16 Researchers at Cold Springs Harbor Labs find that antioxidants are, in some cases, aiding cancer, and by suppressing the antioxidants, the oxidants are then able to kill the cancer. Link here.

High Cholesterol Found to be Cancer Protective– 7/9/16 A study presented at a British Cardiovascular Society Conference, link here, finds that high cholesterol is significantly protective for four common cancers: breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal. Reasons for this are unknown.

Zinc Acetate Lozenges Reduce Length of Common Cold– 7/6/16 Zinc for a cold is a Dr. Mike favorite. Here’s some science to back it up. A study published here finds that Zinc Acetate Lozenges shorten common colds by three days.

BMJ Article: Bad Cholesterol Isn’t Bad After All– 6/13/16 This is huge. In BMJ Open, here, a peer reviewed study finds that high “bad” cholesterol, aka LDL-cholesterol, is inversely associated with mortality. Higher levels=less death. The stuff is good for you. This is heresy of the first water. Expect a huge blow-back. The lipid hypothysis—that high LDL cholesterol causes heart disease—is ingrained in the medical community like an eleventh commandment. It has never been proven, and kudos to BMJ for daring to run this article. (We would crow that we have repeatedly posted that the dangers of LDL cholesterol were nonexistent, but we will be nice and refrain.)

Stem Cell Injection Reversed Strokes– 6/6/16 At Stanford, reported here, stroke patients receiving injection of mesenchymal stem cells directly into the brain experienced, in some cases, dramatic improvement. If this research holds up, this is an astounding result. “This wasn’t just, ‘They couldn’t move their thumb, and now they can.’ Patients who were in wheelchairs are walking now,” said lead researcher Steinberg.

Bariactric Surgery Now Recommended for Diabetes– 5/26/16 The American Diabetes Association (ADA), and other groups, have now endorsed bariactric surgery (stomach stapling) as a treatment for adult onset or type 2 diabetes (ADOM). We are not making this up. Report here. Of course the ADA dietary recommendations are almost guaranteed to prolong AODM, so we suppose some sort of strange logic is at work here. For the surgery-free, drug-free Quantitative Medicine method, click here.

Low Salt May Be Dangerous – 5/20/16 The prestigious British journal Lancet reports here that low salt intake is more dangerous than high intake. This is heresy, of course, and the article, the magazine, and the authors have already been condemned and will be burnt at the stake. The QM view is that high salt intake is a fairly minor factor. In this article, high intake is worse only for those with high blood pressure, whereas low salt intake is dangerous to those with high blood pressure, and those with normal blood pressure. Again, standard-practice medicine has been making things worse.

JAMA Discovers QM – 5/19/16 The prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports here that secession of of smoking, non-heavy drinking, and exercise reduce cancer. Now while it’s wonderful that they have now seen the light, or at least are circling around it, hasn’t this been obvious for the last 50 years? They studied only white males. Are they setting us up for a sequel? Let’s spoil that one: it works for everybody.

Calcium/Vitamin D Causes a Stroke or Heart Attack for Each Fracture prevented – 5/12/16 From a Norwegian study reported here, “Our analysis shows that if 100,000 65-year-old women take 1000 mg calcium every day, 5890 hip fractures and 3820 other fractures would be prevented. On the other hand, as many as 5917 heart attacks and 4373 strokes could be caused.” A horrid tradeoff made worse by the fact that osteoporosis is easily prevented and reversed with no supplements needed. See posts here, here, and here

Medical Error Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. – 5/3/16 This is not news. As a leading cause of death in hospitals,medical error has been a focal area for almost 20 years. However, findings published here in the British Medical Journal.indicate the the problem is far from solved. Deaths due to medical error represent around 10% of deaths, some 250,000. One problem, according to the article, is that adequate records aren’t kept: the deaths are often attributed to something else. Best strategy: stay out of hospitals.

Big Pharma to World: Take Something! – 4/21/16 From JAMA, here, a trial was conducted for patients who couldn’t tolerate stains.(42%, in fact). The “solution” was to give them ezetimibe, a drug with no known benefit and some probably harm, a drug currently approved for a very, very narrow cohort of off-the-charts high cholesterol. Only 27% could not stand this drug, so the trial was considered a success. The drug industry seems insistent on cramming ezetimibe down our throats. To even embark on this strange experiment shows a callousness and disregard for patient benefit that surprises even us.

Is Fructose Highly Dangerous? – 4/21/16 Maybe. From UCLA we have a finding that fructose is linked to detrimental changes to hundreds of brain genes. Press release here. Scary stuff, and it makes some sense. The body goes to a lot of trouble to keep dietary fructose out of circulation, converting most of it to a concentrated form of glucose called glycogen, and rapidly removing any excess that does get into circulation. The reason for this aversion to fructose is not known, but the research sited above may provide a significant clue. Besides a major sugar component of fruit, table sugar is a 50-50 mix of fructose and glucose, as is high-fructose corn syrup, a ubiquitous food additive.

Are Proton Pump Inhibitors Overprescribed? – 4/15/16 A new report In the Journal of the American Society of Nephrolog seems to indicate that long term use of proton pump inhibitors, which significant reduce stomach acidity, causes increased kidney disease. Such drugs are widely prescribed and are also available over-the-counter. Though likely safe for short-term use, longer term consumption seems to have problems.

FDA Pulls Plug on Combo Drug – 4/15/16 In a rare glimmer of sanity, the FDA has withdrawn approval on a drug called Niaspan, which is a combination of statins and niacin. The approval was made in 1997. Given that is know that statins are practically useless, and that niacin actually increases heart problems, you may wonder what they were waiting for. So do we.Might they now consider the rest of the dangerous drugs out there? Details here.

Interesting Alzheimer’s-Insulin Result – 4/13/16 An NYU business school researcher has connected some interesting dots. It is well know that high insulin is involved in Alzheimers, but the connection wasn’t clear. It seems that the enzyme that breaks down insulin is the same one that breaks down amyloid-beta plaque, the tangled mess that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Schiller’s idea is that perhaps the all the enzyme resources are spent on the high insulin, and the amyoid-beta doesn’t get removed. Details here.

Another Early Cancer Detection Breakthrough – 4/8/16 Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, have created an optical biosensor for cancer detection that is a million times more sensitive than previous versions, pointing the way toward an effective early detection system for cancer and other illnesses.This might greatly improve early detection, which is ket to fighting cancer.Details here.

Choral Singing May Reduce Cancer – 4/5/16Researchers in Wales have determined that choral group singing improves levels of several anti-cancer hormones and biochemicals. Paper can be found here. In view of the next news item, the song Java Jive should probably be included in the repertoire.

Coffee Reduces Colorectal Cancer 50% – 4/1/16 Researchers at USC report “We found that drinking coffee is associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer, and the more coffee consumed, the lower the risk.” The press release is here. Dramatics reductions of up to 50% were seen. This area has been controversial for 20 years. The mechanism of cancer prevention is unknown, though it doesn’t seem to be caffeine, as decaf works as well.

Early Cancer Detection Breakthrough – 3/29/16Researchers at UCLA have developed a PET probe capable of producing far better images in certain types of cancers. With cancer, early detection is key. Clinical trials of the procedure may begin this year. Further info here.

Blonds Found to Be Non-Dumb – 3/23/16 A study here has found that blonds have a slightly higher IQ that non-blond people.Quoting,”Blonde women have a higher mean IQ than women with brown, red and black hair. Blondes are more likely classified as geniuses and less likely to have extremely low IQ.” It is hard to predict what researchers will think of to do research on. How about: “Do Blonds Have More Fun?”

Meal Time More Important Than Previously Thought – 3/17/16 Every traveler know that disrupting the circadian rhythm—the sleep cycle— is no picnic. New research from the Weizmann Institute indicates that not only is the body locked into this cycle, but even our mitochondria are. Mitochondria are tiny bacterial like cells found within almost all our own cells that convert the food we eat to energy. They apparently have time-driven hungry states, wherein they are ready and willing to convert the food to energy, and sleepy state as well. This means having meals at a regular time is more critical than previously thought.

Alzheimer’s and Brain Research – 3/17/16 There are almost daily reports of discoveries or possible breakthroughs involving Alzheimer’s and the brain. Just today, there are three such reports, all on mice, and so it is unknown if the results would carry over. There are reports of new neurons grown from stem cells, lost memories reactivate through light flashes, and increasing available neural energy by injecting pyruvate, an intermediate of glucose metabolism. A very active area.

Antidepressants Increase Mortality – 3/16/16 A study from Auburn and University of Alabama show a slight increase in mortality with uses of second generation anti-depressants.Report here. Knowledge of this will likely offset any anti-depression benefit as well. I much stronger anti-depressant that features a very strong reduction of mortality is exercise.

Canadian Medicine Discovers Exercise – 3/14/16 Canadian Medical Association announces: “Many doctors and their patients aren’t aware that exercise is a treatment for these chronic conditions and can provide as much benefit as drugs or surgery, and typically with fewer harms.” Not really. It actually provides A LOT MORE benefit. Bit it’s a step for organized medicine. Next week: hot water.

Exercise Reduces Alzheimer’s 50% – 3/11/16 No surprise at our end. But here, another study demonstrates the most effect way to prevent Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s Caused By Microbes? – 3/10/16 Researchers have reported that a virus and two types of bacteria are a major cause of Alzheimers. A microbial connection has been (and probably will remain) controversial. However, the causes of Alzheimer’s are not known.

Magic Pill Announced – 3/4/16 Drug companies adore lifelong drugs, and the latest “breakthrough” combines statins, blood pressure reducers, aspirin, and adult onset diabetes medication, and is called a Polypill. However none of these four have shown any mortality benefit, and all of them have serious side effects. But in combination, they are suddenly magical? The idea seems to be to get rid of screening and blood testa altogether, and put everyone over 50 on this pill. This idea is so bad, it would be praising it to call it crazy.

Breast Cancer Breakthrough – 3/3/16 A new drug combo is very effective against the HER-2 variant of breast cancer. A fourth of those treated saw dramatic reduction in tumor size, while in an additional 11% the tumor completely disappeared, in under two weeks. Details here.

Television Exposure Directly Linked To A Thin Body Ideal In Women – 2/22/16 The only real question here is: Are they paying grown-ups to come up with this? It’s a real study. Details here. What will they study next? How about: Driving Blindfolded May Increase Accident Risk.

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Immune System Basics – The Adaptive Immune System

The Adaptive Immune System Is Able To Mount A Massive Attack Against A Bacteria Or Virus And Remember It. Once A Disease Has Attacked and Has Been Beaten Back, We Are Immune For Life.

Well, not always for life but a very long time to be sure. The innate immune system, powerful though it is, proved inadequate. Soon after the vertebrates appeared, we find animals with the adaptive immune system. The ‘reason’ for the development is this: The innate immune system can recognize quite a few bacterial and viral pathogens, but this recognition is more or less fixed, cast in the DNA of the innate system white cells. With their assorted special receptors, they can recognize a more or less fixed spectrum of bacteria.

If bacteria would stay put – genetically speaking – this probably would have done the job. But, of course, they mutate all the time, continually picking up new DNA and discarding old. Same with viruses. As soon as a bacteria came up with some trickery that eluded the innate immune system, vulnerability to infection would dramatically increase. Of course, the innate immune system could, in principal, have evolved more and more receptors, but whereas bacterial DNA can evolve in a hurry, we eukaryotes are glacially slow. This was not a contest we were going to win.

By contrast, the adaptive immune system can recognize every molecule in the universe, or so it is claimed. This includes bacteria, viruses, as well as other toxins, like oxidized LDL molecules. In a human body, the adaptive immune system can recognize around 10 million sorts of pathogen patterns. How it does this is another of those “gee whiz – how could this ever have evolved” moments.

Cells of the Adaptive Immune System

This one is complicated, but it’s not that hard, and there’s so much ‘gee-whiz’ stuff, it’s worth the read. Read slowly! It’s worth knowing about the adaptive immune system.

Recall that the innate system consists of: Engulfers, Poisoners, and ‘Natural Killers’. There is a prior post on that here if you want a refresher.

Engulfers, also called phagocytes, are cell eaters. There are three subtypes here. A large one that can engulf a lot of bacteria (macrophage), a smaller, very mobile one (neutrophil), that tends to be a first responder, and finally, in mammals, a marker one (dendritic cell) that identifies the pathogen.

The natural killers look for markings on a cell exterior and will destroy the cell if these are fishy.

The adaptive system brings three more cells into the mix:

B-cells – antibody managers

Helper T-cells – dispatchers and coordinators

Killer T-cells – cell killers

The B-Cell, T-Cell designation has to do with where the cells ‘mature’ and causes a lot of confusion. It is a lot clearer to look at what they do. B-cells are in charge of antiBodies. You have heard of antibodies. More in a minute. Helper T-cells are like managers or dispatchers. They don’t directly kill pathogens, but speed up and focus the response in a variety of ways. Killer T-cells do exactly what their name implies. All three of these cells have antibodies stuck on their surface, forming receptors, and they roam about the body looking for some invader that matches up (called an antigen).

Antibodies

An antibody is a little “Y” shaped protein that matches patterns on a pathogen. There are a huge number of them, each with different patterns. They can be stuck on a B or T cell and used as a receptor, something that will detect and latch onto anything that matches its pre-programmed pattern. They can circulate freely and will attach to and neutralize a pathogen.. They detect bacteria and viruses, but also other things, toxic chemicals, damaged tissue and the like.

Needless to say, there is a huge, almost infinite variety of possible bacterial patterns, so the human body generates a huge amount of different B and T cells, each one of them individually ‘programmed’ to specialize in one of around 10 million different antibodies. This is a whole lot more than the innate immune system could recognize. The T or B cell will use the antibody as its receptor and, in the case of B-cells, will generate more of these antibodies. Thus, in a sense, there are 10 million different types of B and T cells, each specializing in a certain pathogen.

At any given time, there are around 10 billion such cells in circulation, so this means duplication and around a thousand cells will carry the same antibody for each of the 10 million types. A thousand isn’t a lot of defense against a rapidly dividing bacterial invasion, but wait till you see what happens next.

Adaptive Defense and B-Cells

As soon as one of the B-cells gets a match to an invading bacteria, it scurries to a lymph node and start replicating very rapidly. Each of the replicated cells is slightly different, so as to fine tune to an exact match to the invader. The various new B-cells that match the invader best then start spewing huge numbers of antibodies into the circulatory system. These are free antibodies and circulate about the body attaching to the invading bacteria, neutralizing it, and marking it for destruction by a passing macrophage.

Immunity

The B-cells aren’t quite done. Some of them differentiate into B-memory cells, which typically last a lifetime. Should the pathogen show up again, the memory cells are ready to lurch into the above cycle immediately.

T-Cells

The B-cells are primarily looking for pathogens in the blood or otherwise outside the cells. If the cells themselves have been invaded, then the T-cells get into the act. The T-cells have the same huge variety of antibody receptors as the B-cells, but seem to be far less trigger-happy. In fact, unless some ‘proof’ is presented that a cell is infected, the T-cells do nothing. The helper T-cells will activate only if one of the engulfing type cells have gobbled something that matches its receptors. The killer T-cells look for the match within the cell, specifically the MHC protein.

Once either of the T-cell type are activated, they go into a massive replication mode similar to the B-cells. After the replication, the helper T-cells secrete various interleukins, sounding the alarm, which draws other immune system resources to the vicinity: think science fiction like tractor beams.

The killer T-cells kill the infected cell by poisoning it (actually, they inject an enzyme that causes the infected cell to commit cellular suicide, called apoptosis).

And again like the B-cell, both T-cell types produce some memory versions that last a lifetime.

This whole T-cell B–cell campaign tends to take 5-10 days to kick in. This is why colds and similar diseases tend to last about that long. Until the T and B cells have finished things off, all the defense is in the hands of the innate immune system.

The adaptive immune system evolved because the innate immune system couldn’t keep up with the bacterial and viral variety. It is claimed that the adaptive immune system can recognize anything in the universe, which is reassuring, if a bit presumptuous. Blackholes anyone?

In any case, all this elaborate pathogen matching, antibody generation, and life-time memory, present their own problems, part scientific and part philosophical. Where did such an elaborate and thorough system come from? And where are the intermediate creatures who have only part of it? Like so much else in life: unknown, and perhaps unknowable.

PS As many of you know many of the diseases from which mankind suffers are a result of the dys-regulation of this system; autoimmune diseases, like Lupus and Celiac disease come to mind.

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Why does Quantitative Medicine work?

Many sites offer nice-sounding advice about nutrition and exercise, but almost none have actually put this advice to work in a large-scale clinical setting. Starting in the late 90s, Dr. Mike Nichols operated a clinic wherein each patient was quantified with blood tests and other measurements, and an optimum diet and exercise regime suggested.
This became a continual process and Dr. Mike has accumulated data on hundreds of people for almost 20 years. At this point in the process, he knows what works, what doesn’t, how to restore health, slow aging, and block degenerative disease. But the formula is different for everyone, and without measurement, lifestyle recommendations are just a medical guessing game. Is Paleo best? For some, sure. But without measurement, there is no way to tell.
But more importantly, when the optimum lifestyle is determined, implemented, and actually achieved, almost all people get well, and life’s chronic diseases are slowed, often reversed.
This is no idle claim or hopeful promise. This has already worked in a clinical setting, long-term and with real people. Given how different people are, it is folly to try to apply a one-size-fits-all set of recommendations. The sooner this is realized, the faster the planet will get well. Quantitative Medicine is the future.

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Mike Nichols, M.D.

Charles Davis, Ph.D.

What Is Quantitative Medicine?

Quantitative medicine is the practice of determining and modifying your health guided by direct measurement of meaningful biological markers. Everyone is different. The best diet is unique to each of us. Diet markers must be directly and precisely measured.

Why Are We Doing This?

My practice has been highly successful. Many many people have gotten well, have avoided degenerative diseases, have extended their lives. But my practice is full.
By starting this blog, I am taking the first steps to make Quantitative Medicine available to everyone. You, the patient, supply the self-discipline, physical, mental, and spiritual perseverance, and we will supply the information and resources you need to realize the full benefits of Quantitative Medicine.
By measurement, an optimally healthy lifestyle can be determined for anyone. The results are profound and pervasive. Degenerative disease is prevented or rolled back. Longevity – healthy active longevity – is increased. This has worked for over 2000 patients.
This blog is just starting. There will be videos, books, ebooks, ebooklets, on-line analysis tools, in short, everything you will need. Some will be free, and some will not. None of it, though, will be expensive.
For now we are just getting started. A lot more information is coming, so please stay tuned.